What’s Really in Chicken Nuggets? You May Not Want to Know...

We’ll admit it, when we first wanted to write about this topic, the one thing that everyone in the office said was, “Are you really that surprised?” Well, color us pink with embarrassment, because not only have we enjoyed a nugget or two in our time, we’ve even given nugget-laden meals to our kids on more than one occasion. Now that a new study published in the American Journal of Medicine shows us what’s really in them, we’ll pass, thanks.

Researchers in Mississippi recently examined two nuggets from fast food outlets in Jacksonville and discovered that that they both contained 50 percent or less of actual chicken “meat”, meaning the breast and thigh that most people consume. What’s left? A mixture of organ meat, muscle, gristle, and bone.

According to the study, “The first nugget was about half muscle, with the rest a mix of fat, blood vessels and nerves. Close inspection revealed cells that line the skin and internal organs of the bird. The second nugget was only 40 percent muscle, and the remainder was fat, cartilage and pieces of bone.”

That’s right, chicken nuggets contain little actual chicken. As completely grossed out as we are, we realize that this is not time to turn away, but rather it’s time to come to terms with where our food comes from and exactly what is in it, especially if we’re feeding it to our kids. While I personally can’t say I’ll never eat a nugget again, for now they are completely off my family’s menu, because there’s not enough dipping sauce in the world to block out this information.

Will you give up feeding nuggets to your family, or do you think it’s really no big deal?